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Alcohol vs. Weed

Everyday people in the USA get in shit because of alcohol. The damage that’s made by alcohol(abuse) is amazing! Alcohol is the most frequently used drug by teenagers in the US. Yearly almost 2000 people under the age of 21 die in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens.

And what about sexual violence and domestic violence: studies show between 60 and 70 percent of batterers are under the influence of alcohol when they assault their partners (although the cause of domestic violence is not just alcohol).

So many cases are related to alcohol, but we arrest people that carry marijuana. Why can I buy as much alcohol as I want and drink until I die and no one’s gonna stop me. But if I walk around smoking a joint, causing no harm to other persons, I likely get tackled by the police. How much trouble smokers cause? They basically smoke, watch tv and eat all your chocolate, that’s definitely not violent.

Is money is the reason the government harasses smokers? Now tax enforcers in Washington are after the medical weed outlets to collect money. Even in Holland where it is sort of legal they don’t tax it!

And beside that it’s sold as a medicine in US. Under state law there’s an exemption for prescription medicine and an authorization is the functional equivalent of a prescription, lawyers say. If the federal government would legalize it, it would be big business and great revenue of state income.

But, why not put more effort in alcohol abuse? Why is it that drinking alcohol so widely accepted while it causes way more trouble than smoking weed? Many Americans believe that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug that has destroyed the lives of millions. Most of them have never tried it and fear the worst. But stay to the facts: Alcohol is more toxic, more addictive, more harmful to the body, more likely to result in injuries, and more likely to lead to interpersonal violence than marijuana. Many people die from alcohol use, but how many people died from marijuana use? Exactly: zero. It’s practically impossible to get a marijuana overdose, while alcohol overdoses are widespread.

Take a look at Amsterdam, where most heavy smokers are actually tourists! Dutch teens are educated in high school about marijuana and drugs and when something is legal it’s not so interesting anymore! Also in Holland teens drink but if you look at other EU countries and the US it’s not as widespread. Same with teen pregnancies: less than 5 in 1000 teen girls got pregnant in Holland comparing to 68 per 1,000 women between 15 and 19 years old in the US.

Most teenage pregnancy cases result from unprotected sex, which likely occurs between teens who are under the influence of alcohol. Only 75 percent of teens use protection when sober, and as teens consume more alcohol, that figure decreases. When intoxicated about 10 percent of teens remember to use protection, a US survey has revealed. I say it again: education, education, education.

So don’t let the government and people that don’t know what they’re talking about scare you. Just think for yourself, look at the facts and then decide if smoking some weed causes that much harm.

In my view nobody smokes weed and turn violent. Nobody gets stoned on weed and beat up their kids or drive their car into a tree. All they do when they get high is eat all the cookies, and I think we can live with that.